Freedom's Slave: Part 3
by Daroneasa
Summary: The final section of Terra's Hirac Dilest


Part 3:

I cried myself to sleep in his bed, not awaking until nearly sundown. For a moment, I'd 

forgotten, turned over expecting to see his smiling face. I smiled at the scent of the Kisha 

flowers.

But then, with tears that had gummed up my eyes while I slept, I remembered. It was so hard 

to imagine. That morning, I layed in his arms. He loved me, I loved him. We were free. I 

was jolted back into slavery the moment he died.

I began methodically cleaning the capsule. As I pulled aside the small blanket, I smelled 

it...Kisha flowers. I held it to my face, sobbing into it.

"Dapsen..." no sound came from my mouth, but I said it. My heart cried out for Dapsen. I 

needed him.

I needed him like I needed food, like I needed air. I was empty without his loving embrace.

I folded the blanket gently, setting it in my own capsule, so that it would not be washed. I 

wanted it to smell like Dapsen, not like clensing liquid.

I noticed the spot where the blanket had been. Some sheets of folded paper were there, 

wrinkled from where I had slept on them.

I picked them up. Two. One was a copy of the Andalite alphabet in my neat writing...and 

below it, barely legible, a copy in Dapsen's shaky writing. I blinked back tears, but 

some of them fell onto the paper. 

The next sheet was a drawing of me. A very very good drawing. I smiled to myself and 

began folding it back up. But then, in the corner, some very sloppy writing.

Terra.Dapsen.

I heard his voice as I read. Terra, Dapsen.

I slipped the papers into my belt, slung the blanket onto my shoulder. I gritted my teeth, my 

mind focusing on my lover's killer.

I left the Barraks.....outside, a red stain in the 

dirt. I walked past it. His body would be burned in the morning, wherever it was. 

I walked to the scoop. Kani and the master's wife were in the garden. But the master was 

concentrating on some paper.

My papers.

I silently approached him. His stalk eyes were focused on the paper, too.

He didn't look until it was too late.

I pounced! My fangs sank into his neck, and I tasted the blood in my mouth.

I let the Master fall, he grabbed his neck, forgetting he could fight back. I dabbed my claw in 

some of the blood and used a piece of paper to write the last thing that the Master would

ever read.

"Dapsen's death is avenged..."

He blinked, and looked at my unforgiving face. I will never forgive that evil man's dying 

words.

< Rot in hell... > he gasped, dying in a pool of his own blood.

I walked away, burrying my face into the blanket, longing for my love's voice, his touch, the 

feel of his fur. I knew where they keeped the dead. A small building not far from the 

furnace. Criminals and slaves were always burned. It was a sign of disrespect. The 

andalite religion said that the slaves and criminals must be burned, so that they may 

never rise in another life. It was a very old religion, eventually loosing most of it's 

meaning to the people, but that one custom stayed.

The hero was buried under the Stiska tree, his or her grave marked by a certain kind of 

stone, carefully carved to show the hero's name, his feats...

I found the small shed and entered. My nose detected the faint smell of death. I saw a young 

girl who had died, probably in childbirth, laid on one of the three tables, her eyes staring 

ahead...and next to her, Dapsen.

I stood at his side. His eyes were staring ahead. Those beautiful amber eyes, that had held 

me in their gaze, that had cried for me, that had let me know that he was mine, that I 

was his, that nothing could ever harm me while he lived.

I closed them gently, and lifted his body with much effort. He was a stone in my arms, cold, 

stiff.

His hair...still messed up from when we returned that morning, that now seemed a million 

years ago. I buried my face into his chest, sobbing. The smell of death did not touch him, 

but the girl next to him. She had been dead for a few days. But he, he still smelled of the 

Kisha flowers, the dew of the morning, the brush, the dirt, even me.

I heard some thought speak cries outside. If I would do what I had to, I must be gone.

Grunting, I carried his body away, mouthing the words....

"Terra...Dapsen..."

I buried my love under a Stiska tree, hidden in a crevice between two rocks. It provided 

temporary shelter. Kisha flowers bloomed in the little hidden place. I slept there after I 

had laid him to rest, snuggling with the blanket, thinking that I had held him only a night 

ago. An eternity. 

When you loose someone close to you, at first, you can't beleive they're gone. The reality 

never really sinks in for days, weeks, months, years.

It still hasn't sunk in for me. Sometimes I wake up, thinking I'm in my capsule, and I look 

up for him, but he's not there. And then I remember, and lay back down and smell the 

blanket that had once kept him warm at night.

I wanted to die so much. Life was like death, and Death would be life.....

Dapsen, I'd like to think, still sees me, waits for the day I may join him in the beyond. I hope 

so. I've found that, above all other reasons, the reason I beleive in life beyond is not for 

myself, but for the fact that if I thought I would never see Dapsen again, I would go 

insane.

They say it's not really better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. But 

then, I know I'd rather have that one moment with Dapsen than an eternity without him.

After that, I went on the run. There's really no where for a fugative slave to go, though.

My only hope would be the spaceports. There, I could maybe hide aboard a ship and escape

to another planet. Maybe. Highly unlikely, however. There were a few andalites who

were sympathetic to slaves. If I could find some of them, then, maybe, I'd make it to 

freedom.

The large spaceport's lanes were packed with slaves and Andalites and aliens. I tried to seem 

as normal as I could.

Lurking in the shadows, I would have been noticed more easily than I would be in 

a large crowd of my people. I dared not to look on the face of anyone, especially the 

andalites who shoved past me.

One especially pushy young Aristh shoved by me as he walked, knocking me against a wall. 

I opened my mouth and nearly

shouted an insult at him, but I quickly silenced myself and began walking again.

I slept in a discarded Gafik box that night. It was cold, and all I had to protect me

was the 

box and Dapsen's blanket. I wrapped it about myself, burried my face into it, smelled the 

scent

of Kisha flowers, stained it with my bitter tears. 

Finally, after crying until I could cry no more, I lost myself in the only refuge I had from the 

pain, my dreams.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Andalite hooves, running on the hard ground, 

and shouts and screems of slaves.

I climbed out of my box cautiously and looked out into the street. A young male slave had 

taken an Andalite hostage.

He was holding a shredder beam to the Andalite's head, and, to my great surprise, speaking.

His eyes reflected the insanity of a young person who had been pushed to the breaking point.

"I want a ship! You will give me a ship, or your Prince will die!"

< Don't give him the ship! > The hostage Andalite shouted to some soldiers, who all had 

their dracon beams leveled.

"SILENCE, FOOL!" He screeched. His eyes flashed across the crowd, searching the faces of 

the Andalites and the slaves.

For an instant our eyes met. In my eyes, he found the only kindred spirit in the entire crowd.

The other slaves were to ignorant to understand, the andalites to arrogant.

I nodded to him slowly.

< MEN! FIRE ON HIM! KILL HIM! > the Prince cried. In a lightning fast movement, the 

young slave grabbed

a young andalite girl nearby and jerked her forward, and pulled the trigger. The Prince's 

blood sprayed across the crowd from the hole in his head. The boy growled and shook 

the young child.

"Fire, and I will kill this child. Now, I want the ship, now."

The andalites shifted on their hooves uneasily, but didn't budge. I knew they'd never give in. 

A girl-child was nothing to them.

And I knew that the boy would kill the child. 

The girl andalite's eyes showed great fear. She was very young, not much more than a baby.

"NOW!" He pressed the barrel of the shredder beam to the child's head.

I drew my breath. Neither would compromise. Both the child and the boy would die.

Unless I interefered. It would cost me my freedom. But what did I have to live for anyway?

The life of even an Andalite child was worth more than mine. There was no way the boy 

could live. His life would be over the second he killed the girl.

"BROTHER!" I shouted across the crowd.

Everyone focused on me. The Andalites' eyes widened and a few pointed their guns at me.

The boy stared at me, but didn't seem very surprised.

"You can speak. What do you want?"

I smiled at him and began to approach him. He 

tensed but he seemed to trust me.

I reached my hand forward

"It's an andalite. She'll grow up to be just like the rest of her 

dispicable race. They have subjected us, crushed us beneath their hooves, kept us in an 

ignorant stuper. But I refuse to be ignorant. And I refuse to be a slave. I am free."

I nodded.

"So am I. I agree. But not all Andalites are evil. And this is not the way to freedom.

Look out at those soldiers. They will kill you. They care no more for that baby than you do, 

and probably less."

He frowned and grunted.

"They'll kill me. But I'll take this child with me. Keep her from punishing and torturing my 

brothers and sisters. Our brothers and sisters."

He growled

"Now, back away."

I slowly began to back away. The andalites were prepared to fire.

"DEATH TO THE 

ANDALITES!" He cried. In an instant, I tackled him, grabbed his hand and prevented 

him from pulling the trigger. He stared at me, and I saw his thoughts flash through his eyes 

as clearly as if I had been a mind reader. Now, I would be the one to die.

"Traitor!" He hissed, trying to wrench away from me. I heard the andalites prepare to fire. 

They would surely kill the three of us. I let the boy go and grabbed the child quickly, 

shielding her tiny body with my own, crouching low on the street. Shots rang out and I 

heard the boy scream. He fell, his body hitting mine. The shots stopped. 

Andalites rushed forward, swarming over me and the child. The child's mother 

embraced her, sobbing.

The andalite soldiers helped me up gently, not knowing what to do with me.

I had saved the child, but I was a rebel slave.

The andalite woman stared at me and I smiled.

< Thank you > she said, smiling with her eyes.

I nodded.

"You are very welcome." I said, my voice hoarse from yelling. The little girl andalite looked 

at me with her stalk eyes as her mother led her away.

I turned suddenly at the harsh, cruel voice. A large Andalite soldier stood there, glaring at 

me.

"Terra."

< That is not your designation, fool. >

I growled at him and shook my head.

"You asked me my name, not my designation. My designation is Terraformer 14470034-21, 

but my NAME is Terra."

< Very clever, but I'm afraid you'll have to come with me. >

"What crime have I commited?" I demanded.

He hit me with the blunt side of his tail. As I blacked out, I heard an aristh speaking to the 

soldier.

< Alloran, sir, what DID she do? >

< She's too smart, Aristh. She's a slave, she can talk. It is forbidden by law. She is a 

mistake. And we must correct our mistakes. >

Asika:

I watched from my seat as they drug the Kahani girl in. She was a young adult, not much 

younger than me. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye as she was led up the 

steps to the Flame. The Flame was the ultimate punishment for anyone. You would be 

strapped to it, burned alive.

It was reserved only for the most horrible criminals.

To me, this WAS the most horrible. 

I remembered, in the back of my mind, my childhood playmate, a little female. I had 

tried to teach her to write, but she had been discovered and sold. She would have been 

too young to remember any of it.

She probably didn't understand anyway.

I knew then that I had been a naive child, just trying to play with her pet.

I focused on the Kahani as she was strapped to the Flame. Her arms were fastened, stretched 

out from her body, as well as her legs and tail. This was where they cried out in their 

purring voices that could not form words for mercy. This was where I gave the final 

order.

< Do you have anything to say? > I joked.

She looked up at me and smirked. Her eyes 

watered. 

< Do it. > I ordered the warrior. He punched the switch, turned and waited. A mere five 

seconds until the Kahani would be burned alive.

In those few seconds, I realized my mistake.

She looked up at me. Her eyes still holding 

tears, but something else, childish.

I knew then who it was

Terra.

< No... > I whispered.

Slow motion. The flame consumed Terra, causing her to go into several minutes of silent 

screaming and violent spasms. I cried on the inside. I screamed.

< Stop! > I finally said, turning my four eyes away from her charred body. She was dead. 

Her fur was burned black. Her eyes....

I felt sick to my very soul. The eyes still stared at me, but they were empty, and the tears had 

been boiled away.

I shut my eyes and moaned.

< High Councilor Asika, the body is not destroyed, as you ordered. Do you wish us to 

continue? >

I sighed. The death of traitors and criminals was death by burning, and their ashes were 

launched into a black hole, so that they would be utterly destroyed. But, one of honor 

was launched in a time capsul with a copy of his or her Hirac Dilest and most precious 

posession. 

< No. We want to...preserve the brain, test it to see why this one was so intellegent. >

< Take the..body...to my ship. Put it in a capsul, I will take it to my scientists. >

They took down her limp body, carried it away roughly.

I was left alone.

I cried. I screamed in agony, the truth showing it's ugly face...

< Councilor Asika? Why do you mourn for that...thing? >

I turned to see a strange andalite. No. It was a warrior of Seerow's army, a general I 

beleived. Alloran was his name, I think.

I gained control of my emotions and walked past him, ignoring him. He seemed pleased with 

my reaction.

I walked to Terra's cell. A simple 6x6 cell. No food, little watter. No bed. No light.

This was where she had lived for two months.

The cell was very filthy.

I looked around, my eyes finally adjusting to the dark. A small, barely noticable, weak spot 

in the wall. I reached out and touched it. Somehow, I knew. I crumbled that spot away 

and withdrew the papers inside, a small blanket smelling of Kisha flowers, and a vile of 

primitive berry ink. I opened the Hirac Dilest , reading the title.

"Hirac Dilest of Terraformer 14470034-21...."

..................

Ax looked up at us, searching our faces for a hint of what we could be thinking.

"Ax....oh man...." Jake finally breathed.

Cassie was in tears. If I had not been in my hawk form, I would have been too. Marco 

looked at the ground and shook his head, Rachel simply stared at Ax, waiting for an 

answer.

< I....I don't know what to say. Do not beleive everything...I mean... >

"Slaves. Andalites 

have slaves."

< But they are Kahani! >

"Jesus, Ax! That's what the yeerks say! Geez, you andalites are no better than the yeerks!"

< Neither are you humans! You held slaves! >

"We used to, yes. Big difference. We're advanced, we know it's wrong. It's wrong."

Ax shook his head and threw the papers to the ground.

< Think what you will, humans. You cannot judge my people. >

Ax walked away, not 

even looking back with his stalk eyes. I wondered where he was going as Rachel stood 

and gathered the papers.

< You cannot judge me. >


End file.
